A Better Way
by ruminant
Summary: Character Study: The brief appearance of Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne.


A scream pierced the darkness. Once, the sound would have made her cry... or cringe... or feel. She watched as the golden girl writhed. _She_ wasn't the one writhing. That was enough for her. The girl slowly looked her way. Blue eyes stared at her. Blue eyes that still held hope. Hope? How long had it been since she had been allowed to think that word?

"Stop!" she ordered the attacker. "Sailor Moon has been hurt enough! Leave the final judgement to Galaxia-sama."

Sailor Lethe's green dressed swirled around her as she spun to face her partner. "Are you betraying me, Mnemosyne?"

"Sailor… Moon...?" the girl whispered as memories began seeping back into her mind, "Right! I am Sailor Moon! I came here to restore my friends!"

The enemy and the betrayer watched as a warm light shone from the girl's forehead. Mnemosyne sighed as the rays caressed her cold skin. The girl transformed into Eternal Sailor Moon once again. The heroine frantically swam through the water toward her friends.

"She got her memory back in my river of oblivion!" Lethe gasped as she prepared herself to attack again.

"No! Please, stop this!" Mnemosyne pled as she imposed herself between Lethe and Sailor Moon.

"After all this time... you really are betraying me," Lethe stated, sounding only mildly hurt.

"I just don't want a sailor soldier the same as me to be hurt by you."

She looked into Lethe's eyes and tried to explain her hesitation, but the words would not come. Sailor Moon had reminded her of a time when she had lived with love. Those memories were hard for even the senshi of remembrance to recall, yet they were there. This intruder had awoken a spark in her she had thought was long burnt out.

She reached her hand out to her partner, but stopped short. Lethe's eyes were still cold and unmoved. She could not remember that time. She could not remember how it felt to be free from Galaxia's control. She knew that Lethe would not allow this girl to escape.

Mnemosyne circled and swam to the surface of the river. Sailor Moon was already at the shore. Another girl with fiery red hair sat beside her. "Here," Mnemosyne offered Kakyuu her outstretched hand, "Have some water from my river of memory."

"Mnemosyne!" Sailor Lethe cried out as she too swam for the shore.

Sailor Moon turned to the two enemy senshi. "I didn't come here to meet with death. I came to get back my friends' sailor crystals. Where are they?!" she demanded.

"They are not here," Lethe replied evenly, "These are the vast outer moats, doubly guarding the Galaxia Palace of the Shadow Galactica Empire. The Desert Rivers. I am the guardian of the river of oblivion, Sailor Lethe."

"I am the guardian of the river of memory, Sailor Mnemosyne," the betrayer added.

Sailor Moon stared at the two. She could feel their despair as though it were her own. She wished she had time to help them. But she came here for one reason. She would not leave without her friends.

"We won't let you leave from here, Sailor Moon. Not alive," Lethe asserted.

"But Lethe!"

Turning swiftly, Lethe screamed as her patience ran out, "If you don't want to see this then close your eyes, Mnemosyne! Have you forgotten?! The oath by which we decided to follow Galaxia, to achieve our own peace and happiness?! Our planets were small. It was always chaos. Galaxia appeared, and death and silence came; we had no choice but to follow her. But if there is a lasting victory to the war, and Galaxia unites the galaxy, we will have our new future!"

Lethe's eyes softened as she gathered her friend into a warm embrace. "This time we'll have peace and happiness, Mnemosyne," she whispered gently.

Mneymosyne realized that Lethe did remember, after all. Unlike herself, Lethe still believed that Galaxia could eventually bring order to the universe. Mneymosyne shuddered in the embrace. She had believed it once as well.

Kakyuu stood as her eyes burned from unshed tears. "There is no peace with the soldier of destruction!" she shouted, "However many people she finds, she kills! Even in the future, with that woman there will only be destruction!"

Lethe turned her head to face Sailor Moon. "But, Sailor Moon... Is there a peaceful future with you? A future where there is no war? Sailor Moon, the power you carry _cries_ for war! As long as you live, the wars will not end. From where I stand, _you_ are the evil! Whoever wins, the future will surely be the same. I will end this war now!"

Tears ran down Sailor Moon's cheeks as Lethe raised her arms to attack. "If that will truly end the war," she replied tearfully, "kill me. I also came here to end the war."

Mneymosyne opened her mouth to protest, but Lethe had stopped her attack and was regarding the girl. She looked thoroughly defeated, as though she could hardly stand.

"Even if we don't repair things," Lethe sighed, slowly lowering her arms, "if you die, if you don't die, the war will not end."

Mneymosyne's regarded her friend through her tears. The war against Chaos could never be won., but that might not be the only way. They could find a way to live in peace without completely destroying Chaos. Sailor Moon had made it this far, perhaps it wasn't physical power that could stop destruction. It was something else.

"Useless fools!" a new voice cried out.

The group turned as one to see two new senshi floating above the ground. The two animates raised their staffs high and blasted Lethe and Mnemosyne. The bracelets the pair wore shattered like glass. Thousands of tiny fragments floated into the air as the two fell the ground. "Mnemosyne," Lethe rasped while reaching her already numbing fingers toward her friend.

"Lethe..." the other replied as she wove her fingers with her friend's.

Mnemoysne stifled a sob as Lethe faded into nothingness. She knew she had only moments before she ceased to exist as well. Gazing up, she met the startled eyes of Sailor Moon. The clear blue eyes of Sailor Moon were the last sight that Sailor Mnemoysne saw as she faded away… eyes that spoke of a better way. Eyes that spoke of love.


End file.
